What truly makes the fighting game community come to life is the people and players who show up to put in the work — or at least bring the fun factor to events.
We recently witnessed Tekken triple crown champion TM|Arslan Ash become something of a meme himself for his reaction captured at Combo Breaker 2024, which was apparently taken to the next level this weekend at DreamHack Dallas 2024.
During the Tekken 8 major at the end of last month, the legend who put Pakistan on the map for the competitive community made quite the shocked expression after seeing his opponent, SperoGin’s, controller he was using.
He appeared to be playing with an original PlayStation controller, which Arslan posted online afterward claiming SperoGin told the champ the controller was older than him.
Although that may not exactly be the case, it is possible considering Arslan was born in 1995.
He said the controller is older than me https://t.co/DmV9hub86h
— Arslan Ash (@ArslanAsh95) May 26, 2024
Unsurprisingly, his face quickly started making its way across FGC circles and the internet, but it didn’t just stay online apparently.
My honest reaction pic.twitter.com/nZ9KicW9Ew
— ̷U̷̷z̷a̷̷i̷̷r̷ ̷Q̷a̷̷m̷a̷̷r̷ (@Rejected_KidX) June 1, 2024
While attending the big DreamHack tournament this weekend, it seems Arslan managed to stumble across someone wearing a backpack with his face on it using what looks to likely be an LED screen / display.
This seems to have amused the Tekken champion quite a bit, and Arslan also took a photo with the guy — or at least his backpack.
Broo pic.twitter.com/1p6P3A7t0E
— Arslan Ash (@ArslanAsh95) June 1, 2024
Unfortunately, however, we’re not quite sure who the owner of said backpack is at the moment to give him full credit here.
Is so epic pic.twitter.com/tQZIpgdX5h
— Sora (@ImSoraCrash) June 1, 2024
DreamHack being an ESports World Cup qualifier event means that this Tekken 8 bracket is even more stacked than usual, and it hasn’t been all fun and games unfortunately there too.
Korean legend KC|JDCR was essentially one hit away from knocking PBE|AK, the winner of Combo Breaker, down to the losers bracket, but an awfully timed pause from someone else entirely forced them to replay — to which JDCR lost.
That’s the worst possible timing pic.twitter.com/vCknGrncIw
— Hi! Buff Gigas Please? (@BuffGigas) June 2, 2024
It would be Arslan Ash himself who’d ultimately eliminate JDCR afterwards to reach top 8 and qualify for the Esports World Cup.
There’s no way to know if JDCR would have reached the top 8 even if he was able to close out the set against AK though he obviously would have had a better chance to do so.
To close things out on a happier note, however, how would you feel to see someone walking around with your face on their clothing / accessories?